Gun Fight

Also: Gill the Great, Bad News

Gun Fight
For every burglary averted by a gun, there are multiple comments from the gun-rights advocates. And for every mass slaughter via high-powered rifles, there are screams to control the weapons of violence. And then there are the gun-rights folks who somehow equate a woman’s choice for abortion to these mass mall killings and wonder why progressives are stunned by the violence. Now, we have a sixth-grade boy taking a gun to school with the wrongheaded notion that he needs it to safeguard himself and his friends from mass murder. And we have feral-cat foe Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, advocating for gun training and carrying by teachers. What’s wrong with these pictures?

Gill the Great
Salt Lake City is surprisingly blessed with a prolifically articulate district attorney, Sim Gill. Gill speaks his mind, using social media to spread messages of his hope and despair, and his quest for truth and reason, with almost poetic precision. Yes, other politicians, notably Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, blog a bit, but most in sound bites. Gill is not only eloquent, but also compelling about the issues facing Utahns. “The unfolding narrative of violence is dotting our national body like a disease. We must admit as reluctant patients that we are infected and we have a problem,” he writes. Or: “Political activism from all sides is interesting to observe. There is the loud, disorganized, anarchist, self-righteous, introverted selfishness, altruistically driven compassion by the Coffee and Tea crowd and contextually confused agenda.” Gill has 3,435 Facebook fans. Is it any wonder?

Bad News
In true Mitt Romney style, Nexstar, the publicly traded company that just took over ABC 4, uses the sledgehammer to pound out its bottom line. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that at least 15 staffers, including the station manager, were axed. Nexstar, which is aggressively seeking acquisitions, is known for its cost-cutting acumen, although it doesn’t take a genius to know that personnel is the biggest expense in any operation. And if you don’t care about your people, well, cutting them off is easy. Chris Vanocur, who blew open the Salt Lake Olympics scandal, is one of the bloodied in this battle. According to CEO Peter Sook, acquisitions “further strategically diversify our operations, create or present opportunities for virtual duopoly markets … which are financially accretive.” This is as explicable as the company’s layoffs.